Hillerman was born in Denison, Texas, the son of Christopher Benedict Hillerman, a gas station owner, and Lenora Joan. He was the middle child with two sisters. His father was the grandson of immigrants from Germany and France, and his mother the daughter of immigrants from Austria and Germany. Hillerman developed an interest in opera at the age of ten, and traveled to Dallas to watch Metropolitan Opera productions. He attended St. Xavier's Academy, and after graduation, he attended the University of Texas at Austin for three years, majoring in journalism. Hillerman served four years in the United States Air Force, working in maintenance in a B-36 wing of the Strategic Air Command, and achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant. He became interested in acting after working with a theatrical group in Fort Worth during his service: "I was bored with barracks life. I got into to meet people in town. A light went on." After his 1957 discharge, he moved to New York City to study at the American Theatre Wing, and performed in professional theater for the next twelve years, in productions such as Henry IV, Part 2 and The Great God Brown. Despite over 100 stage roles, Hillerman was unable to make a living as a stage actor, and he moved to Hollywood in 1969.
Career
Film
Hillerman made his film debut in They Call Me Mister Tibbs! in an uncredited role as a reporter. Director Peter Bogdanovich, with whom Hillerman had previously worked during his stage career, cast Hillerman in his films The Last Picture Show, What's Up, Doc?, and Paper Moon. Hillerman worked steadily thereafter in motion pictures and television through the 1970s, including notable supporting roles in the 1974 filmsChinatown and Blazing Saddles. After being cast in Magnum, P.I., he shot only four additional pictures between 1980 and 1996, with his final film performance coming in A Very Brady Sequel.
Television
In 1975, Hillerman was a co-star in Ellery Queen as Simon Brimmer, a radio detective who hosted a radio show and tried to outsmart the title character. From 1976–1980, he had a recurring role as Mr. Conners on the sitcom One Day at a Time, and he co-starred as Betty White's estranged husband on The Betty White Show. In 1978, Hillerman also appeared in an episode of Little House on the Prairie called "Harriet's Happenings". He is perhaps best remembered for his role as former British Army Sergeant MajorJonathan Higgins in Magnum, P.I., for which he learned to speak in the educated middle/upper class English accent known as Received Pronunciation, the King's or Queen's English by listening to a recording of Laurence Olivier reciting Hamlet. He considered Higgins his favorite role, and described the character in a 1988 interview as "think he's the only sane character , and everyone else is stark raving mad." In 1982, Hillerman starred in the television pilot of Tales of the Gold Monkey, as a German villain named Fritz the Monocle. He hosted the 1984 David Hemmings-directed puzzle video . In 1990, Hillerman returned to television as Lloyd Hogan in the sixth and final season of the sitcom The Hogan Family. That same year, he portrayed Dr. Watson to Edward Woodward's Sherlock Holmes in Hands of a Murderer. In 1993, he appeared in Berlin Break for one season. He played the role of Mac MacKenzie, a former spy and currently the proprietor of Mac's, a bar in West Berlin considered to be neutral territory during the Cold War. Mac teamed up with two jobless spies as investigators: Valentin Renko, an ex-KGB agent, and Willy Richter, an ex-BND operative. The show reunited him with Jeff MacKay, who portrayed "Mac" MacReynolds in Magnum P.I..
Later years and death
In the late 1980s, Hillerman was commissioned into the Royal Colonial Light Horse Brigade as a full Colonel of Cavalry. The RCLHB, located in Springfield, Missouri, continues to maintain its role as an active troupe of historians and military enthusiasts commemorating events that never happened and glories never known. After Hillerman retired from acting in 1999, he returned to his home state of Texas. On November 9, 2017, he died of cardiovascular disease at his Houston home, at the age of 84.
